# CIA political neutrality tradition > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "CIA political neutrality tradition," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-political-neutrality-tradition/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The informal midcentury norm at the Central Intelligence Agency, described by John Kiriakou from his own 1990-era experience, under which employees did not share their partisan affiliations at work, small displays such as a Bob Dole campaign bumper sticker in a cubicle triggered severe internal discipline, and career officers steered clear of political endorsement, a tradition Kiriakou argues collapsed by 2020, when 51 former intelligence officials signed the letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop story.* - **Era:** Cold War through late 1990s - **Per Kiriakou:** Broken by the 2020 Hunter Biden laptop letter The **CIA political neutrality tradition** is the informal norm, described by [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) from his 1990s [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) career, under which employees kept their partisan affiliations invisible at work and any breach was treated as a serious violation.[1] Kiriakou says he sat with people ten hours a day *"and had literally no idea"* of their political affiliations: *"It never came up. It never needed to come up. We were there to serve the American people."*[1] ## The Bob Dole sticker incident In 1996, Kiriakou recalls, a colleague sat about three cubicles down from him and *"very discreetly"* put up a small Bob Dole for President bumper sticker in her cubicle. Management, he says, *"came down on her like a ton of bricks."* She was suspended for a week without pay, denied promotion for a year, and issued a formal letter in her file finding that she had violated agency regulations. Kiriakou remembers her *"balling as she was walking out."*[2][3] ## Collapse of the norm By 2020, Kiriakou argues, the norm was gone. He notes that of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed the public letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as *"Russian disinformation,"* he personally knew *"every single one"* and considers that *"every single one of them was working for [Hillary Clinton](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hillary-clinton), either directly or indirectly."* On his account, [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan) himself emerged as *"a nobody around 2007"* only because a mass retirement of senior CIA officers after 9/11 sorted broadly fifty-fifty between the Hillary Clinton and John McCain campaigns, and Brennan was, by his account, *"the only one that went to the [Obama](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/barack-obama) campaign."*[4][5][6] Kiriakou argues the political drift of the retired-officer class is why the 51 signatories should never have retained security clearances after leaving the agency, and why [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)'s first-term suspension of those clearances was justified.[7][1] ## See also - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) - [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan) - [Barack Obama](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/barack-obama) - [Hillary Clinton](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hillary-clinton) ## Sources 1. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:12:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4358s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 2. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:13:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4390s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 3. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:13:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4421s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 4. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:14:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4451s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 5. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:14:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4482s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 6. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:15:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4513s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ 7. #783 — Ex-CIA Officer Confronted Over Zionist Accusations (2026-04-23), at 1:12:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_B72s6Ix0&t=4325s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-23-pbd-podcast-ex-cia-officer-confronted-over-zionist-accusa/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-political-neutrality-tradition/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt